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Has Tower Defense Evolved?

If you’ve ever explored the world of Flash games for any period of time, you’ve probably run across Tower Defense, or “TD” as it’s commonly called. The premise of the game is to kill all the “creeps” (or monsters) before they get through your maze. You have towers that shoot in different ways to defend your turf.

The newest version, Flash Element TD 2, seems to be an awesome upgrade to the original. There have been many permutations over the years, but this is by far the most fun version I have played.

What makes this one different from all the rest? Well, for one thing, the objective is a bit different. You are given little “elements” that you must protect from the creeps. If they get through your defenses, they pick them up one at a time and try to take them back the way they came. If you don’t have any elements left at the end of a round, you lose! This makes the course shorter and changes your general strategy.

There are also tokens in this game that are separate from the money you earn (these are like the bonuses you get in the original game). You can pay to bring your elements back to their resting places, to buy new elements, to increase your percent interest, and even take on extra hard challenges that make you a lot more points if you succeed. By the way, the more elements you have, the more and better towers you can create.

There are new creeps too. They are similar to the old “land, flyer, fast, boss” paradigm, but there are more of them and they keep the game interesting through each level. Also, the bosses vary a lot and sometimes do surprising things. If you like, you can click on an individual creep and watch its health and progress in a special window. It’s a neat little feature when you’re just learning the game.

Overall, this new TD is a LOT of fun. The first level is actually winnable while still being entertaining, and the upper levels will give you quite a bit of challenge.

What’s your favorite TD variant? Let us know and link to it in the comments!

Explored the world of flash games? Try StarCraft. 1998. That’s when Tower Defense came out. Yes, the 12 year old Real Time Strategy game. Infact, it’s still a common map style that regularly gets 8 players.

Explored the world of flash games? Try StarCraft. 1998. That's when Tower Defense came out. Yes, the 12 year old Real Time Strategy game. Infact, it's still a common map style that regularly gets 8 players.